October2011

Dean’s Message – Greg Hanifee, Assistant Dean of Executive Programs

Dear EMBA Alumni,

Greetings from campus, home of the football “Pride” uniforms! While the football team was busy making headlines with their new uniforms last month, the EMBA 11s have been busy working through hurricanes, tropical storms and earthquakes to carry on the “pride” of the Smith EMBA. This month we also celebrated our annual College Jersey Day. It appears everyone made it out without starting a food fight, so I’m happy to report that we’ll be able to continue the tradition next year.

As many of you know, we’re in full swing with our EMBA 12 recruiting efforts, and I personally want to thank all of you who have so graciously offered your time and advice, as well as referrals, for the upcoming cohort. We’re also taking steps to engage in more corporate outreach this year, so Sharon Rogers Johnson has joined our team to lead the effort to connect with leaders and decision-makers in organizations across the mid-Atlantic and tell the story of the Smith EMBA experience and the difference it can make. Sharon’s background in recruiting for the EMBA program will bring great value to our team to help us achieve our goals, and she’ll work closely with Shelbi and me as we move the program ever forward.

Lastly, I want to echo something I heard last month from PwC’s CEO Bob Moritz, who spoke at our most recent CEO@Smith event. While Bob gave an incredible talk full of leadership tips and advice to an overflow crowd in Van Munching Hall, I think one thing that stuck with me during his talk was the power that can be created by something we don’t often measure or for which we don’t often recruit: PQ - the Passion Quotient. Bob also talked about IQ and EQ as being the minimum qualifications, as well as CQ or the Cultural Quotient as being necessary in international organizations. The impact employees at all levels of the organization can have if they are passionate about the company and their role in the company creates a climate of customer service that can separate your organization from the competition. So as you move forward in the coming month(s) to the end of your fiscal or calendar year, and as you begin thinking about 2012 (and beyond) and what is possible, review where you are with your own PQ and your team’s PQ. Is it time to re-evaluate and re-energize? Bob left us all thinking we can do more here at Smith. 

Best -

Greg
ghanifee@rhsmith.umd.edu
301.405.7628

EMBA Recruiting Update

Fall is the busiest time of year for recruiting efforts as we strive to bring in the best talent in the Washington, D.C. Metro area for the January 2012 cohort. To date, approximately 65% of the class is full and it promises to be another exciting and diverse group. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until Oct. 15. Feel free to pass along any interested friends or colleagues to Shelbi Brookshire at sbrooksh@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301.405.2386. She’s always happiest when she is on the road representing the EMBA and helping future students with one of the most important decisions of their careers.

Upcoming Smith Events

CEO@Smith
Throughout the fall semester, CEOs will visit Smith to discuss real-world challenges facing their organizations. On Sept. 13, Bob Mortiz kicked off the fall 2011 series. Read more about his visit at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stories/2011/CEOatSmithBobMoritz.aspx.

On Oct. 18, we will welcome Alan Wilson of McCormick & Co.
Visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/corporate/ceospeakers.aspx to review upcoming dates and CEOs.

ThoughtLeadership@Smith

Oct. 7, Washington, D.C.
What’s Next for the Economy?
Curt Grimm, Dean’s Professor of Supply Chain and Strategy

Nov. 11, Baltimore, MD
Who Leaves, Where To, and Why Worry?
Rajshree Agarwal, Dean’s Chair in Entrepreneurship and Strategy, and
Paul Mandell '95, CEO, Consero Group LLC

Nov. 18, Washington, D.C.
Risk and Reward
Alex Triantis, Professor of Finance

Visit www.rhsmith.umd.edu/thoughtleadership to learn more and register.

Nov. 9 EMBA Alumni/Current Student Happy Hour
Fall means it’s time to celebrate the Smith Executive MBA. As those of you who attended the spring healthcare panel or previous fall happy hours know, these are great opportunities to reconnect with your cohort members and meet other alums and current students. This year we will pat ourselves on the back for graduating 10 cohorts. More details will be provided as we get closer to the event.

Calling all EMBA Alumni Entrepreneurs!

In cooperation with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, we’re forming an Alumni Entrepreneurs Panel. In an effort to build connectivity and to maintain the Smith School’s high ranking in Entrepreneurship, the EMBA program and the Dingman Center are forming a special panel highlighting entrepreneurs. The panel will consist of five to seven people who have started entrepreneurial ventures or who have been part of start-ups. Initially, the main task for the panel is to attend three out of four scheduled breakfast events (two in the fall, two in the spring) featuring faculty presenting on “research-in-progress” affiliated with new ventures and entrepreneurship. We’re looking for practitioners who can provide valuable feedback to our faculty (your chance to be the grader!) on how their research connects to reality. All interested parties should contact Shelbi Brookshire at sbrooksh@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301.405.2386 for more information.

Baltimore Alums??

As you may have noticed, we are including more programming in the Baltimore Metro. We would like to get an idea of how many EMBA alums we have either living and/or working in the area as we consider future event invitations. Please let Shelbi Brookshire at sbrooksh@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301.405.2386 know if you are interested in attending upcoming Baltimore events.

Alumni Non-Profit

Chloe’s Cause - Helping Children with Down Syndrome and their Families

While completing their EMBAs at the Smith School, Dr. Rohit Guliti and Tony Davenport (both EMBA Cohort 8), with the help of friends and family, founded Chloe’s Cause as a way to both help children with Down Syndrome and give back to the community. “My niece, Chloe, was born with Down Syndrome,” said Davenport. “We felt compelled to do something to help. As it turns out, our Smith EMBA provided us with great skills to not only help Chloe, but to begin to help other families and organizations that support Down Syndrome.” Dr. Gulati added, “In the business world, it’s very easy to get completely self-centered. Being part of Chloe’s Cause has allowed us to do something very positive for the community with our Smith EMBAs.”

Chloe’s Cause’s annual mum sale coupled with their upcoming ChloBowl are their most successful charity drives. Read more, donate or buy mums at www.chloescauseinc.org. Chloe’s Cause is a 501c(3) organization.

Previous Events

Whether you graduated from Cohort 1 or Cohort 10, everyone has fond memories of the business simulation capstone that always captures the spirit of co-opertition….that trait of all Smith programs that combines cooperation with competition. This year’s business simulation for EMBA Cohort 10 is no exception. As alums returned to fill the roles of venture capitalists, students vied for the honor of winning the simulation. For more on both the simulation and graduation, take a moment to visit the links below:

• www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stories/2011/EMBAGraduation.aspx
• www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stories/2011/BizSim.aspx

Executive Education in the News

The Office of Executive Programs (OEP) is excited to announce that Liz Barron has joined our team to lead Custom Programs as Senior Director. Liz joins the team with a tremendous background in working with senior executives and government officials at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and prior to that at the Brookings Institute. You can learn a bit more about Liz from her blog at blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/execed.

Smith’s very own Dr. Joyce E.A. Russell and Dr. Rob Sheehan collaborated in a recent article from the EMBA Council magazine.

Message from Alumni Services

Donating to UMD/Robert H. Smith School of Business
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, giving to the Alumni Association supports scholarships, alumni programming, etc. Additionally, any donation is now 100% tax deductible. Visit alumni.umd.edu/s/1132/start.aspx to explore the various ways to donate or consider “purchasing” a brick or paver for the Riggs Alumni Center.

Providing Updates for “Smith Business Magazine”

Finally, we would like to request personal updates to share with all of our EMBA alumni. We would like to highlight your successes! Please send any updates you want to share, such as a new job or a new baby. E-mail updates to emba_alumni@rhsmith.umd.edu. If you are interested in submitting an announcement for the “Smith Business Magazine,” you can do so by visiting www.smithconnector.com/s/1172/index.aspx?sid=1172&gid=1&pgid=572.

EMBA Alumni Newsletter

Previous editions can be found online at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/emba/newsletters.aspx.

EMBA Alumni Updates & Announcements

Wendy Sanhai (EMBA 8) has been appointed as Senior Director, US Regulatory Policy and Advocacy at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) starting Sept. 26. She joins GSK from the FDA where she was a Senior Scientific Advisor, Office of the Commissioner.

EMBA 10 graduate Karen Reinhardt, currently director of global talent management at Unisys Federal Systems, recently accepted a new position at Lockheed Martin as the Enterprise Operations director of talent and organizational capability. In this new role, Karen will oversee talent development services for 7,000 IT professionals including talent management, talent development, leadership and workforce capability development, strategic change and organization design and executive coaching and learning.

Ryan Scott, also an EMBA 10 graduate, has been one of the newest Smith EMBA alums to make the move to NYC. Ryan has joined Next Street, a financial services company whose mission is to transform the way that finance and business advisory services are provided to small companies and nonprofit organizations in urban markets. Ryan identifies and develops relationships with small business owners looking to grow their business. He helps business owners analyze their companies’ challenges and works with Next Street practice area specialists to identify precisely where they can help, and what form the help will take. As a trusted advisor, the small business relies on Ryan to articulate the critical needs to the Next Street team to devise the best possible solution for the business.

Jeff Stoltzfus, EMBA 7, has joined Smith’s Office of Career Services as associate director of employer relations for technology and entrepreneurship. He will focus on relationships with technology employers, and coaching MBA students in their search for employment in the technology field. If you ever seek to add technology-experienced, business-educated graduates to your staff, please contact him.

Stay Connected

We have two areas where we ask you to make sure your email and mailing address are up to date.

1. UMD – Email university relations at bio_updates@ur.umd.edu. This is important if you want to keep getting the Smith Business Magazine and other UMD publications.
2. Smith Connector: www.smithconnector.com

Don’t forget to look for the Smith School on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

REMINDER - Please take a moment to ensure you are member of Smith's official EMBA Alumni on LinkedIn.

Finally, we would like to request personal updates to share with all of our EMBA alumni. We would like to highlight your successes! Please send any updates you want to share such as new job or new baby. Email the updates to emba_alumni@rhsmith.umd.edu.